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Alex BandIndra Club 64, Hamburg, Germany
14th January 2020
Alex Band of The Calling - Tour 2020 - Support: My Silent Bravery, My Own Ghost & Psycho Village

When I saw the announcement of the tour of ALEX BAND, formerly known as lead vocalist of THE CALLING, I immediately got the flowing melody of their hit song ‘Wherever You Will Go’ from 2001 in my ear. The song with the deep and sad background about someone’s passing became a hymn of hope for many at the time when 9/11 happened - a day that no one who was old enough to understand back then, will ever forget. Now, almost 20 years later, it felt quite unreal to see Alex live on stage.

Just when we arrived, the venue felt incredibly hot and it was by far not packed yet. Different than in other venues, the heat felt very dry though and for me as someone who isn’t into sauna at all, it was a bit hard to stand. Also the people around me felt the same, so at some point we asked to point the doors to get in some fresh air. It was not possible to do so during she performances due to the volume, but at least in between - so these moments of the cold, fresh air in between were a blessing, even as they did not last long. It was the same for the artists, every one of them was surprised about how hot it actually was.

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Talking about artists and surprises… I was really surprised to get to know that there were three support bands on that Tuesday evening. I did not find any information on support bands in the Facebook event and also the official event link was mentioning only PSYCHO VILLAGE. While all three were really worth exploring and I am sure there was something great to discover for everyone, it felt a bit too much for a Tuesday evening, especially without knowing that in advance. So the combination of many bands and the heat led to the fact that some had or decided to leave before the end of the show and I am sure it was not because they did not enjoy the music itself.

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My Silent Bravery

MY SILENT BRAVERY from Boston, Massachusetts opened the evening with some down-to-earth, catchy guitar and violin vibes. After every song the audience got to hear something about the band or the following song which was cool and entertaining, as for example the song titled ‘18’ that “would hopefully bring us to the time when we were that age”, some giggles from the audience followed, trying to remember that actually or just thinking that this has been some years ago already. The duo acted really likeable dealing in the most perfect way with everything happening on stage - like at the beginning of the fifth song - “it would help if I played the right chords”. The first half of an hour went by really quickly and entertaining. https://www.facebook.com/mysilentbravery

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My Own Ghost

The second band MY OWN GHOST, a Rock band with a female lead singer, convinced with lots of power and a well-done performance. I had immediately some references to DIE HAPPY on my mind who are are powerful and energetic band as well. The singer entered the stage obviously pregnant and rocking all the way despite the heat that was addressed by her as well. MY OWN GHOST from Luxembourg played a balanced mix of new and old songs, like ‘Waiting In The Wings’, ‘Chrystal Ball’ and also something unreleased yet. https://www.facebook.com/myownghostofficial

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Psycho Village

The last support band of the evening was PSYCHO VILLAGE. The energetic guys from Vienna did not hesitate to take over the show and to rock the hot Indra Club. Many stories of life on the road and as artists in general were exchanged and their charisma was indeed convincing. On two large monitors showed videos completed the show. PSYCHO VILLAGE mentioned that they just released a new album in September 2019. Also they spoke about being on the road with ALEX BAND and that Hamburg was show 7 of 52 in total. Announced with a story of some unfortunate circumstances that came up during the time as being in a band they performed ‘Unstoppable’. And also the audience choir worked well with the catchy ‘It’s Okay’. For the last song Dani, the lead vocalist, jumped into the audience to perform the whole song being surrounded by the crowd. Good show and a band one will likely remember. https://www.facebook.com/PsychoVillage

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Alex Band

THE CALLING was founded in 1996. In the early 2000s the band had a lot of success worldwide, especially with the ‘Camino Palmero’ album released in 201 and the songs ‘Wherever You Will Go’ and ‘Adrienne’. THE CALLING split in 2005 and ALEX BAND announced to go on a solo path further. In 2013 a comeback was announced by THE CALLING, but did not last that long - one reason were probably some severe health issues. https://www.facebook.com/AlexBand / https://www.alexbandmusic.com

Music & Performance
So it was 10:10 pm when THE CALLING entered the small stage of the legendary, and extremely hot Indra. I believe it was actually at the end sold-out which is great for the bands, but also explains a bit more the temperatures inside (plus no air conditioner). But somehow as everyone suffered a bit - the musicians as well as the fans everyone felt quite united probably.

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The fireworks of the well-known songs from the past two decades put many smiles on the faces. The time travel journey felt real and the eyes were sparkling. The set started with ‘One By One’, many other songs followed and though I was not actively following ALEX BAND in the last years I recognized way more of them than I expected, especially ‘Our Lives’, or ‘Could It Be Any Harder’ that was ironically announced as ‘Could It Be Any Hotter’. Alex mentioned that he has been very ill for many years and needed long to get better. He did not go into detail, but it was obvious that it’s been some very challenging years. He also announced that a new album was about to be released later this year. Many jokes about the heat were made in between, but during the songs the magic of the performance spread all over. The fans were singing and enjoying the evening while wiping away the sweat.

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Another highlight was the acoustic version of ‘Euphoria’ and Alex also asked the audience for song wishes or announced two songs to pick from. A heartwarming, though due to the late hour and the heat that we spend by the time when the main act entered the stage already about three hours in a bit challenging Tuesday evening with many moments to remember and look back to with some melancholy and a smile at the same time.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Light: 7
Sound: 9
Total: 8 / 10

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All pictures by Nastja Iz

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